As most of you know, I love to drink tea. Some of my favorite blends come from Metolius Tea & Apothecary. The owner and creator, Amy Seidenverg is a hands-on business woman and I decided to interview her.
It’s always interesting to see how businesses get their start and grow into something we love. So cozy up with a cup of your favorite tea and read all about Amy and her company.
The Interview
1. What prompted you to create a tea company?
I never had the idea to start a tea company. It happened of its own accord! While I thought was just “geeking out” on herbalism, my friends and family had to point out to me that I had started a company.
It all started when I convinced a local tea company that they needed a medicinal tea line and they let me design and blend it for them. I had no idea how to calculate mark-up, cost of goods, labor or overhead. I just wanted that company to have medicinal tea.
At first some of my teas were pretty foul. I learned the hard way that it doesn’t matter how effective a tea might be if the herbs in it are bitter, slimy, or just plain gross. In time, I learned to make teas that people would buy for medicinal value—like Tummy Tea, Dream Time, etc, but would drink because they taste really good.
Finding the synthesis between flavor and effectiveness was like getting a taste of power, a magic power within me that I wanted to cultivate. I felt like an alchemist, an artist, and an herbalist all at once. I used to pretend I was a witch a lot as a kid. At this stage in my life, I was pretty much just playing witch—I had no training in business, tea, or herbs—but a lot of enthusiasm and playfulness.
While I got some herbalism training learned about tea blending on my own, I gained business skills entirely through trial and error. As a sugar monster, I’ve found myself placing less emphasis on medicinal teas and building up my dessert line. If you told me four years ago that I would make my living selling dessert teas, I would have not believed you.
2. What makes Metolius Tea & Apothecary truly and deeply unique?
The tea blends are quite magical, I think.
Many high quality loose leaf tea companies focus on single estate, stellar teas. Many medium quality loose leaf tea companies woo their customers with flavor pizzazz—pina colada, chocolate truffle pie or whatever—but the stuff is fake, and bad for you. Those natural flavor companies are cloaked in secrecy and are not at all natural. Seriously. Look it up. Metolius has taken an alternative route, using real ingredients that are decadent at the same time.
My Signature Blend tea, for example, has blueberries, chocolate, lavender, and vanilla over black tea. The blueberries are dehydrated in a fancy way that maintains all the nutritional components of the fruit, so you actually get a USDA serving of fruit when you drink the tea. The chocolate melts into the hot water and gives the tea a velvety mouth feel, and my Central Oregon grown lavender peaks the senses with a floral, relaxing aroma. With raw sugar and whole milk, you will have yourself a treat beyond treats.
3. How did you start your own business?
As I said, I started it unconsciously, and then through trial and error. I don’t recommend that. But once I figured out that this is what I wanted to do, I was lucky to have some really great mentors.
Bobby Grover, who owns Thump Coffee Roasters, took me under his wing and taught me a lot about business. I was frozen with fear in the first few years—shy in sales, horrible with numbers, and overwhelmed by the new lingo and terrain—but Bobby taught me that pretty much every hurdle was much larger in my head than it was in reality. I had a vision. All I needed to do was take action on it, focus on the big picture, and let the details take care of themselves.
4. Any advice for budding entrepreneurs?
I am still a “budding entrepreneur,” so if feel silly to give advice as if I have figured anything out—but this is what I know so far.
Get mentors. My dad has been my confidant through every step I’ve taken. My mom has accompanied me on sales calls. Many of my customers have become my cheerleaders, rooting me on and offering advice. Have you ever heard that saying, “it takes a village to raise a child”? Well, it takes a village to raise a business, too, and it is a very personal experience. It’s about the relationships. It’s about being willing to look at your own emotional, spiritual, educational, and entrepreneurial Achilles heels and fix them.
Listen intently even when you don’t at first agree or understand.
Take risks.
I learned the hard way that having a skill or a special product and being a good entrepreneur are two very different things. Develop financial and entrepreneurial skills early in the game.
5. What’s your favorite of your teas?
I drink Earl Grey almost daily. It is really good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the summertime. I like to make earl grey crème brulee with it.
Mate Coco Spice is amazing as a tea latte.
The Mate Chai is very close to my heart. I made it at a time when I really needed herbal medicine. It has chi tonics combined with chai spices. It used to be called “chi chai” until on a whim I put it over mate.
I love Root Beer Tonic. I drink it hot, but sometimes I boil it with honey and pour it over sparkling water for a traditional root beer.
Bio:
Amy Seidenverg, the creator of Metolius Tea and Apothecary, has come from a varied background in writing, teaching, and environmental protection. She grew up on the outskirts of Seattle, Washington catching frogs, making magic potions, performing on unicycle, and rock climbing in the National competition circuit. She began her education in English, Poetry, and Women’s Studies at the University of Oregon. There, she wrote a history of forest activism in the Willamette Valley. She continued her education at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Highlights of her Master’s Degree included doing research on discourses of love in the 19th century, writing her thesis on interdisciplinary historical methodology, starting a writer’s collective called Writers Solidarity Project, a public speaking stint on the history and philosophy of love, and teaching rock climbing. She designed a medicinal tea line (the apothecary) for a Portland, Oregon tea company in 2009. From her fascination with the actions of plants, she developed a taste for flavor profiles. She founded Metolius Tea and Apothecary in 2010 based on a commitment to quality, environmental and social ethics, inspiration and authenticity.